Clothes for the Kids {Old Navy Style}

When it comes to my kids clothes, I am pretty cheap. I rarely ever buy anything full price. I always looks for sales and shop ahead so I am not in a crunch and paying full price. Why? They get trashed so fast and grown out of in a nanosecond. Heck, I've had my kids ruin outfits the first time they wore them. Talk about throwing away money! The thing is, even though I am cheap, I don't want my kids to look cheap. In fact, I enjoy dressing them...more than I enjoy dressing myself. Is that sad? Anyway. 

When the mailer for the Old Navy Kidtacular kids & baby sale arrived at my house, I already knew I was going to hit it up. Why? Because I am a sucker for cute kids clothes and literally could not resist the little girl's romper in the flier. And, HELLO, a sale! So the icing on the cake is that Old Navy so generously sponsored a shopping spree for me to get some clothes for Connor & Isla. Here are a few of the outfits I picked up. 

This wasn't the romper from the flier, but it was a romper I couldn't resist in the store. And, come on, Isla rocks it! 

Romper: Old Navy

Shirt: Old Navy (from the fall)

Shoes: Converse

** Isla styled herself with the bracelets all by her lonesome 

My plan was to get the kids clothes for spring and summer. I was suckered in to getting a couple winter items too. They were just too cute too pass up! In my defense, I did size up so Isla could wear the jacket longer! 

Jacket: Old Navy 

Skirt: Old Navy (from a couple years ago) 

Shoes: Stride Rite

And Connor, well I couldn't keep him out of the fun. Though I am not a fan of character clothing, I do like buying Connor clothes I know he will enjoy...i.e. if it isn't too cheesy, I will allow it! 

Both Shirts: Old Navy

Once you are done processing through all the adorableness, run yourself to Old Navy and pick up some adorable kids clothes for some great prices (hello, up to 40% off!). If not for your kids, grab some for mine. I kid. 

 

 I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The Main Bathroom {my house}

It only took almost two months to complete, but our bathroom renovation is done. This isn't to say that our plumbing is fixed, cause it's not...though there is light at the end of that tunnel. Anyway, the bathroom was actually complete two weeks ago, but I just got around to taking pictures of it. 

What we did was a surface renovation. The guts are still the same. We kept the flooring, the bath and tile (though ditched the shower doors), mirror and the cabinets. But everything got a facelift.

After stressing out over what color to paint the bathroom, I decided to go with the same color we have painted the main part of the house. It is a purple-grey color. And we chose a couple shades darker for the cabinets.  We chose a bottom mount sink and I am so excited about this. I wish I had taken a picture, but the original bathroom sink had years of filth built up in the tiniest of space between the sink and backsplash. I tried so many times to clean it out. But nothing ever worked. Not a problem anymore!

We were able to get a great deal on the granite countertop by choosing from remnants. In fact, that backsplash was more expensive than the counter. Weird, right? Just like the faucet was twice the price of the sink. Who would have thought?!

I am so happy that the cabinets are redone. Our house was a flip and we have had problems with the paint peeling everywhere. The bathroom cabinets were no exception. It is so nice to no longer have them peeling, and to have them brought into this century with new hardware! 

After going back and forth on a color theme for the bathroom, I decided to go with "colorful". Since this is our main bathroom (i.e. the bathroom the kids will use) I wanted it to be fun for them. I found some free printables online and got the frames at Hobby Lobby.

Originally I had my heart set on this ridiculously expensive shower curtain at Anthropologie. The thing was, I could not justify the price. I ended up finding this at Bed, Bath & Beyond and love it. It is thick and I love all the colors in it...and the fact that then it will match anything!

I originally bought this bird hook (from Hobby Lobby) for my bedroom. I had yet to hang it and decided it would look really cute in the bathroom for the kids towels. So I got another one. They make me happy every time I look at them.

Since there was no towel bar in the bathroom before, as the shower doors were the towel bar, I had to buy one. You would have been entertained by the sheer volume of time I wasted picking out a towel bar. It was serious business...and hard to choose. I finally picked one up at Lowes. It hangs on the wall behind the door. When the door is open, you can't see it...or the picture that apparently needs to be straightened! 

I can't believe I failed to mention what might be the best part of the bathroom. We got a new toilet! No more old school full bowl toilet! And let me tell you, I was happy about this a couple weeks ago when I had the stomach flu! I still remember when I was pregnant with Isla, throwing up in that old school toilet and having half of it splash back up onto my face. Fun times. 

Aww, my nice, new bathroom. Now we just need the plumbing fixed so we can flush toilet paper down the toilet and then have people come over and see the bathroom in person...because it is just weird to ask guests to not flush toilet paper! 

Today

I may have yet to get even half of my to-do list done today, but we are enjoying ourselves over here. Going with the flow and seeing where the day takes us. We have enjoyed getting outside and taking advantage of the spring-like weather. I caught up with a friend. They played. And now it is nap time. There is always tomorrow to get to that to-do list! Hey, at least we have enough food to cook dinner tonight. 

Snippets of Life

^^ It only took some noise canceling earmuffs to get Connor to ride in Ian's "scary" car. And shocker, he now likes it. 

^^ My brother and Connor with their matching mustaches

^^ There is nothing sexier than an involved father. Seriously. Hands off ladies.

It feels like we have just been living life over here. Nothing super exciting, but enjoying life. Going to the park, getting froyo, enjoying bath time (the kids, that is). It's been good. 

 

06/52

Connor got in on the picture taking action this week. In fact, he was the official button presser/runner into photos. He did a great job. It was funny watching the camera move around as he tried to press the button hard enough. Then once he got the timer on, he would get so excited, come running over and slide into my lap. I have to admit, I think this little picture taking challenge is making for some cute and fun memories with my kids.

This week:

• I learned about buying chicken & meat in bulk. I am totally thinking about doing it. 
• Connor keeps complaining that his feet hurt. I am guessing that means his shoes are getting too small and it is time we go shoe shopping.
• Connor told me the sky was full of snow. I explained that those are called clouds. He said "no mama, the clouds are sleeping. That is snow." How could I argue with that?!
• Isla has learned to use the step stool to reach things on the counter. Awesome. Now nothing is safe. 
• I was reminded that sometimes the simple act of giving someone a hug blesses them more than we know.
• I really want a good rain to come so Connor and I can go out and play in it.

I'm linking up with Lindsay over at Hello Hue.

Who Are You?

Things with Connor have slowly been changing. It started with him crying, ok, going hysterical, when we leave somewhere he is having fun. It has built up to him dropping onto the floor in a ball and crying when he doesn't get his way. Awesome, right?

And today a whole new thing happened. We had just started grocery shopping. Connor didn't want to be in the cart. Before I knew it, he was full on screaming, crying and kicking the side of the cart. I stared in amazement. I was slightly amused. Oh, I was embarrassed too. But seriously, WHY WAS MY KID ACTING LIKE THIS?! I had never seen this in him before, which I think is why I was slightly amused. Anyway, I walked us right back out to the car for a breather. Of course, then Connor just screamed and cried in the car about how he wanted to be in the store. But I told him we wouldn't go back in until he calmed down. After a few minutes, he calmed down and the rest of the trip was a success.

What the heck, though?! Is this what people mean when they say three is hard? Please tell me no. Even if you are lying, just tell me no. I don't think I can handle it. And spending a whole year never leaving my house just doesn't sound fun. But it may be necessary if Connor continues to act like this.

How do I explain to my child that acting like this just isn't ok? And how do I teach him that you just can't always get your way? Not to mention teaching him that all good things must come to an end. Wowsers. It looks like I have my work cut out for me.

I am thinking I am entering a season of my hardest parenting challenges yet. Sleep deprivation has nothing on crazy public meltdowns.

Relaxed Parenting

 

When Connor was younger, people used to tell me I was so relaxed for being a first time parent. And I knew it was true. I looked around at some of my counterparts and knew I was much more relaxed about things. However, it wasn't until I had Isla that I realized I was actually more uptight about things with Connor than I had thought. 

When Connor was an infant, I remember someone coming to see him with a cold. I pretty much felt like they wanted to kill my child. After all, everything I had read said if a baby gets a cold in their first three months of life, they would have to be hospitalized. When Isla was born, Connor had a cold. It wasn't like I could ship him off to live with someone else or anything. And guess what? Isla survived. 

After Connor became totally mobile, the park wasn't a super fun place for me to meet people. After all, I was spending all my time following him up and down the jungle gyms trying to keep him from jumping off the side. It wasn't until this past year that I was much calmer at the park with him. Today while at the park with the kids, I realized I am just more relaxed. Isla wanted to go down a slide and I decided to just take the approach of seeing what would happen when she did it. Low and behold, she did fine. Of course, later she cried a little when she decided to go down a big slide. It just scared her. But she survived. And in all honesty, I still did some following of Isla up and down the jungle gyms, but nowhere near as much as I did with Connor. 

It's funny how much perspective I have gained about myself just from having a second child and doing everything a second time. I guess it is true what they say, you are more relaxed the second time around...no matter how relaxed you were the first time around! 

And please don't take this to believe that the mama bear instinct isn't alive and well in me, because it certainly is. Just know I'm not quite as psychotic at the park and will actually sit on the bench every once in a while. Such a luxury!